On Sat, Mar 20, 2010 at 6:55 AM, Oren <get.o...@gmail.com> wrote: > { .i'e ui xamgu gunka } > > i saw this posted in the lojban list today, and interpreted it like > any good anglophone would: "Good work!"
"xamgu selgu'a" would be closer to "Good work!" I considered that as I wrote it, but then decided that "xamgu gunka" was fine too, "(do) gunka lo xamgu", "you work on something beneficial" > upon reflection, i think that "a good kind of work" doesn't really > capture the praise of the phrase; > after all, a high-ranking government job may be good work, or > humanitarian work, etc. Or working on a uikipedia article! That's something good for the lojbo community. For the kinds of jobs you are thinking about, "jibri" might be better. > I think what we want to say is "you've done a good job" meaning "you > performed well" or "good results" > > are these what i mean? > { xamgu se snada } > { xamgu te snada } The first one seems better, since presumably in most cases it is the accomplishment rather than the attempt that is most beneficial. > and, is there anything different in > { xamgu selsnada } > { xamgu telsnada } Not much. > and, how about this attitudinal cocktail; "i empathize with your > happiness and effort" > > { .a'i .ui dai } Personally, I think I would use "a'i" as the work is in progress rather than as a comment on something already done, as in "a'i dai catke!", "push!". "uo dai" is better for the accomplishment. I suppose work on wikipedia is never really "done" though, so "a'i" would work as encouragement to keep going. mu'o mi'e xorxes